A Letter to J. V. Stalin[1](December 6, 1912)

For Vasilyev

Written:Written December 6, 1912Published:First published in the bookThe Period ofof Zvezda and Pravda,1911–14, Issue III, 1923.

      Sent from Cracow to St. Petersburg.

      Published according to a copy made by N. K. Krupskaya.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,[1975],

      Moscow,Volume 18,

      pages430-431.Translated:Stepan ApresyanTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive

      (2004).You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

December 6.

Dearfriend, with regard to January 9, it is highly important to think
things over and make preparations in advance. A leaflet must be prepared in
advance calling for meetings, a one-day strike, and demonstrations (the
latter should be decided on the spot, where it will be easier to

decide).[2]We must “correct” the mistake of November 15—correct it
against the opportunists, of course. The slogans in the leaflet must be the
three main revolutionary ones (a republic, an eight-hour working day, and
confiscation of the landed estates), with special emphasis on the 300
years’ “infamy” of the Romanov dynasty. If there is no complete and
absolute certainty that we can have the leaflet in St. Petersburg, we must
prepare it here beforehand and take it there. The liquidators’ impudence
over Jagiello is unparalleled. If all of our six representatives have been
elected by the worker curia, we must not tacitly submit to any
Siberians. The six must by all means voice the most emphatic protest if
they are outvoted; they must print their protest inDyenand
declare that they are appealing to the rank and file, to the workers’
organisations. The liquidators want to inflate their majority and force
through a split with the Polish Social-Democrats. Is it possible that the
workers’ representatives from six working-class gubernias will submit to
the Skobelevs and Co. or to a chance

Siberian[3]? Write more often and in greater detail.

TheLucharticles against strikes are the height of
villainy. We must come out sharply against them in the illegal press. Let
me know as soon as possible which of the plans made by you for such action
you have chosen.

Bestregards.

P.S.Return the document—it is inconvenient to use it, its holder may
be in St. Petersburg.

[1]N.K.Krupskaya copied the letter to J. V. Stalin in invisible ink,
writing it between the lines of another letter. The letter was discovered
in the files of the Police Department, among other letters that had been
secretely inspected.

Vasilyev—pseudonym of J. V. Stalin.

[2]TheLeaflet on the occasion of January 9, 1913, “To All
Working Men and Women of Russia”, was written by J. V. Stalin in
December 1912 on the basis of the directives given by V. I. Lenin, and was
brought out over the signature of the Central Committee of the R.S.D.L.P.

[3]Thisrefers to the Right-wing Menshevik I. N. Mankov, a member of the
Fourth Duma.